- Amazon, the online sales giant, plans to launch a constellation of 3,200 satellites into orbit in the next six years
Amazon launched its first two satellite prototypes during a key test mission for the development of its future constellation, called “Project Kuiper”, which seeks to provide Internet from space and compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The Atlas V rocket took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 2:06 p.m. and was carried out by the industrial group United Launch Alliance (ULA).
“This is the first time Amazon has put satellites in space,” Rajeev Badyal, vice president of technology at Project Kuiper, said in a statement.
Amazon, the online sales giant, plans to launch a constellation of 3,200 satellites into orbit in the next six years.
We are going to learn a lot, regardless of how the mission turns out,” added the vice president of the Kuiper Project.
The two prototypes that Amazon launched today will be taken out of orbit and will disintegrate in the Earth’s atmosphere at the end of their mission. The ULA rocket will propel the satellites to an altitude of 500 kilometers.
Then ground contact tests and instrument review will be carried out. The first operational satellites of the Kuiper project will be launched in early 2024, according to Amazon, which hopes to carry out the first tests with customers at the end of next year.